No More
by Kennie Barton
Summary: No more riddles. No more jests. No more curses you can't undo, from fathers you never knew. No more quests. No more feelings, time to shut the door. Just...no more.


The phone rang entirely too early in the day. Any hour was too early when the night before had lasted through to the sunrise. Had he been in bed for an hour? Two? It could not have been more than two, he knew that.

But he rolled over anyway. It could be important. Something could have happened, something could be happening. Something was always happening.

He stopped short of picking up the phone from the nightstand. His hand hovered over the phone, the screen lit up with the generic camp picture saved for the Big House's phone number. There was always something happening, and they always wanted him to fix it.

A missed call lit up on screen.

No voicemail though. Maybe it was not serious. Maybe it was nothing, an accident that they called him. That was rare, but it did occasionally happen.

The phone started ringing again. The camp picture appearing again as the phone vibrated on the nightstand. Still, his hand hovered just above the mobile device. Was it really worth it, answering that call?

Another missed call lit up the screen. He rolled over, pulling the blankets up over his head. He could hear the phone begin vibrating again as he slipped back into sleep.

* * *

"This is probably a bad time, it's kind of early on a Saturday. But I need to talk to you, when you get this. Give me a call back."

Message deleted.

"Not so early on a Saturday anymore, still haven't heard form you—in like a few weeks. Still need to talk to you. Super important, talk to you later."

Message deleted.

"Are you still alive? I've called you a hundred times, like two—maybe three—dude! I didn't come up with anti-demon/monster tech for you to not answer the phone! Call me when you get this."

Message deleted.

"Okay, so, maybe I've called excessively—or someone, not that I'm mentioning names here, called you excessively. And you have finals, and college apps to fill out, and the whole moving to California thing going on—anyway, give me a call back. Really, really need to talk to you."

Message deleted.

"So, I know that I'm calling the right number, because I can hear Grover laughing in the voicemail message thing. For Hades' sake, call me back so I know you're not dead."

Message deleted.

"It's me again. Don't hate me, but we have a situation and I need you to call me back. Also, I'm almost to your apartment building with a team. I would assume your mom will let us in—or you could, if you're there and still alive. It's whatever, so just give me a call. ASAP, if it's not too much trouble."

Message deleted.

He was still half asleep, listening to the excessive voicemails left on his phone. They had meant to call him, because something was happening, and they needed him to fix it. He sat up in the bed, deleting another message and tossing his blankets aside.

"I'm outside. You have roughly five minutes before all hell breaks loose out here." Message deleted.

"No more," he muttered, hanging up on the voicemail. Thirteen messages, all of them vague, and ranging in intensity. "Just, no more."

He left the phone on the bed and shuffled out into the hall. The apartment looked the same, the sun slanting in from the only window with direct, unobscured access to the view of the sun's progression through the afternoon sky. Nothing had happened, despite the warning messages. He had slept most of the day away. Maybe he could have slept longer, maybe then the voicemails would go away too.

The kitchen was empty when he shuffled through the door. The table cleared away except for the canisters of snacks for his sister stacked near the highchair. He looked around for some sign that they were home, that nothing had happened to them. The messages were so insistent that something was going to happen. That something might happen to them.

Maybe it had. Maybe it had all finally caught up to his family. Maybe it had taken his mother again, taken his step-father in, and included the baby too just because she was there. Maybe he should have answered the phone, then it would never have been a problem, because he would have fixed it already.

Or they just went out. Running errands, an appointment somewhere, visiting friends, a playdate, out to eat; maybe nothing had happened to them. There had been peace for so long, no one dared to bother him, because it was him.

He was stronger than most. His abilities were one of a kind, unseen for generations. He had killed more monsters than the monsters cared to count. They all knew to steer clear of him and his family. Even the gods knew better than to involve his family, they had learned that the hard way.

Nothing had happened to them, he was sure of that.

* * *

"Leo said he called you." He would never not answer when Annabeth called him. "Left you a bunch of messages? Asked you to call him back?"

"Didn't get them," he lied, a thin smile pulling on his lips. "Do you know what Leo wanted?"

"He wouldn't give me all the details," she sighed into the phone. "But he said I should go over to your place and get you."

"That sounds weird." It was one of the stranger requests presented by the eccentric son of Hephaestus, but he would have had his reasons. "So, are you coming over?"

"I'm in the lobby now," she answered briskly.

His smile grew. Annabeth was most likely planning on coming over anyway, which meant they would have the apartment for a few hours, since his parents were still not home. "I thought you had school work to do," not that he was upset that she was coming. He loved seeing her, being with her.

"You're the one with homework to finish," he could hear the elevator chime in the background. "I thought I'd give you a hand." He had to get into New Rome University with her, they both needed him to get into New Rome University. They were going to stay together forever, and they had to go to California together.

"I finished it last night," there was a reason he was had been up all night. He hated that it had taken all night, but it was the dyslexia's fault. It took forever to read everything and then write out a response, that and he was not the brightest kid when it came to math, too many alphabets with a severe lack of real numbers. "I'm free for the night," he was proud that he had finished all that homework. That he had done it all by himself.

"Then we'll have to do something," he could hear Annabeth's smile. His smile widened in response. "Order pizza and rent a movie," she suggested while he was still talking.

"Take a walk along the river."

"It's raining," she shot his idea down in a single breath.

"I'll protect you," he joked. Being a child of Poseidon had it's perks. "A little rain is no match for me," his lips curled in a grin.

"Or we could have pizza and watch a movie," he heard the door of the apartment open. Annabeth must have been the only one on the elevator, she made it up quickly. "I could take over dad's Netflix account, see what's on there."

"With pizza? Sounds romantic," he laughed, stepping out of his room, heading for the living room.

"It does, doesn't it?" she agreed happily.

"You are joking right? Netflix and pizza," he hung up the phone when he saw Annabeth shaking her umbrella out in the doorway. "It's my first free Saturday night since forever, and you want to sit in the apartment and eat pizza?"

"And curl up on the couch, watching movies until we fall asleep," she smiled wrapping her arms around his neck. "And in the morning we can have blue pancakes, or whatever you want."

"My parents will be here in the morning," he laughed, pulling her closer. They could hardly get away with anything when his parents came home, including cuddling on the couch. "They could be back anytime actually."

"Then we should hurry up with the pizza and movies," she smiled as she stretched up on her toes to press her forehead against his. "Since we might not have a lot of time."

"What if I had other plans?" he smiled, his green eyes locking with her gray ones. "Like a romantic diner, a special trip to the beach," he smiled, pulling her closer to him. "A night out, just the two of us. On a grand adventure." He pressed his lips against hers, breathing in her scent.

"You don't," she pulled back just enough to speak and look him in the eyes. "Otherwise you would have told me how much Leo's thing ruined your plans."

"I haven't talked to Leo." He hid his smile from her. He had not talked to Leo, because he had gone to a lot of effort to not talk with Leo.

"You ignored Leo," she corrected him, still smiling. "And his thing." Annabeth knew him so well, knew that he had simply neglected to answer his phone, to return any calls, possibly to leave the voicemail unchecked.

"I never received a call," he tired to sound innocent, but he knew he had already been caught. He could still play it off though, still pretend that she did not know he had purposely ignored Leo.

"You are a terrible lair," she pulled back from him, starting to take off her light jacket. It was spring, finally, but it was still chilly. And apparently raining.

"But you still love me," he fell back, leaning against the couch to watch as she hung her jacket up.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't," she crossed the room and sat on the couch beside him. "Besides, this is better than Leo's thing."

"Because it's with me?" he gave a cheeky grin in her direction.

Annabeth smiled, shaking her head. "Leo wanted help on some quest, said you'd be the best one for it."

 _No more quests. No more curses you can't undo, left by fathers you never knew. No more jests. No more riddles. Just, no more._

"I told him he was crazy, there were other people to take on a quest, like Piper and Nico, or some of the Hephaestus kids."

He chewed on his lip, not responding.

"I also told him you were busy, school and stuff," she continued. "It's spring, graduation's coming soon," he could hear her hesitation. She was concerned that he was too far behind, that he would not make the grades to graduate. That college was not in his immediate future. He was a little worried about that too.

"I think I'm done with quests," he looked at the ground between his feet. "I'm done with all that fighting, and running around." He had to focus on more important things. He had to focus on his future with her, in California, in college. He had to focus on a life with Annabeth, the future he wanted with Annabeth.

She didn't say anything immediately. Was she disappointed? She had lived at camp for a long time, she had dreamt of quests and the adventure. He had been too, for a little while. But that had been before, when the future had seemed like a distant thing. Not a looming, over bearing, terrifying threat-like thing. Thinking about the future was worse than facing Gaea, than fighting Ares one-on-one at twelve years old.

Surely Annabeth understood that. She could see that. If anyone knew how terrified he was about the future, it was Annabeth.

But he was still worried. Worried that she would not understand. That she would judge him about that thought, about the decision. He wanted nothing more than to have Annabeth's approval, for her to like his decisions. That would always be important to him.

"You're allowed to be," she finally spoke. "We've done so much, it's only been six years."

Only six years. It felt like a lifetime, like two lifetimes. Across the country countless times, across the Atlantic, to the Underworld, to the Ancient Lands, to Tartarus… it felt like a lot longer than six years.

"It seems like a lot longer," he fell onto the couch beside Annabeth, his hand taking hold of hers.

She was an anchor. She grounded him, when everything seemed to be falling to pieces, she had perspective, and rationalized his thoughts. She understood, where others would never be able to see what he was talking about, Annabeth understood.

They sat in silence, staring blankly at the wall in front of them.

His phone started ringing again. The picture of camp was showing when he pulled the phone from his pocket. He shared a look with Annabeth, waiting to see if she would judge him for letting it go to voicemail.

"You can tell them no," she said, looking him in the eyes. "They'll understand if you need a break."

"I don't want to let them down."

"They won't see it that way," she assured him. "They're your friends, Percy. They'll understand."

 _No more giants waging war. How do you ignore all the witches, all the curses, the lies and false hopes; wondering what worse could be in store?_

He just wanted to appease everyone, to save everyone.

But he was tired. So tired. He just wanted it to be over.

"They will understand."

"That I let them down?"

"They can handle it," she took his phone and set it on the coffee table. "They went on quests without you before. There'll be more quests while we're in New Rome." She adjusted on the couch so she was pressed against his side, looking up at him. "Leo can handle it. Clarisse and Piper, and Will, Katie, Drew, Malcolm; they can handle it."

 _Just, no more._

"Come on, let's take that romantic walk along the beach," she stood up, pulling him to his feet with her.

"But it's raining," he reminded her playfully.

"Then a movie. Normal high school things." She suggested.

"But Leo," the phone had started ringing again.

"He'll understand," she answered. "Besides, you've already ignored him all day."

He sighed, looking at the phone. She was right, but he had never planned to ignore him all day. At some point he had intended on calling Leo back, of helping him. He always helped them, in the end.

"We need a break," Annabeth declined the call from the Big House, and turned the phone off. "You can talk to Leo tomorrow, if he still needs you."

Leo would, which meant it would be easier to just talk to him before they went out. But that would lead to helping Leo first. Annabeth knew that. And helping Leo would take up their night, their Sunday, and probably cause them to miss a little school on Monday. Possibly Tuesday as well.

"Just one night."

"One night," Percy agreed.

It was just one night. He deserved one night. They deserved one night.


End file.
